Landscape

This week, it’s all about landscape photography. Show us your best establishing shot, out in nature or in an urban setting.

I’ve shared this picture before, perhaps even on previous photo challenges, but as pictures go, out of all the thousands I have taken this ranks among the top ten. I call myself a lucky photographer, as in if I snap away for long enough I’ll usually get a ‘lucky’ shot. My little Nikon coolpix at the time had the ability to shoot in both black and white and colour, something I liked to do try sometimes as there was often a remarkable difference in the two.

This is Scrabo Tower in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. I believe scenes from the film ‘Dracula Untold’ were filmed here. My first shot was colour, I loved the dream like quality that made it seem like something out of a fairytale :-

Next I tried a shot in black and white which completely changed the scene making it dark and some how foreboding. At the time of the shot a bird blew in, completely by fluke, but I have been trying to convince people for years that it is real and not photo-shopped which is what they believed.

We are fortunate here in Northern Ireland to have some amazing scenery. I myself still have lots to discover despite having lived here all my life.

deviant art? Ooh can I see? I’m always after stock images as art references for drawing landscapes :)
I’m rubbish at photoshop lol, and I draw on a program that’s so similar to it, I don’t know what half of the tools are! Probably why I draw so slow. haha.

Great image! Wow! And yeah, the two are both awesome, in their own ways.The color image is extraordinary – it does seem like a fairy tale setting … love the hills and crags and the road, the fence …. totally cool …. and in B&W – definitely ominous – and hey, I don’t think the bird looks “shopped in at all” …. seriously. Those people that do, need to get their eyes checked ;)

I can see the magical world in that colour shot and wow, what a difference with the lack of colour on the second one…..the bird flying into the frame at that point just makes it that much better! Great captures, Juls!

These are incredible photos Jules. The colour photo has beautiful texture, like you could reach and touch the rocks and grass; and how about that cloud swirling about the tower – it’s magic. And the black and white one made me think of Edgar Alan Poe and The Raven – eerie. Can’t wait to trawl my archives for a contribution to this week’s challenge. :) Linda

Thank you, I think I might put a few more pictures up sometimes, people are always asking me what it’s like here, so no better way to showcase it. Assuming that is that my wee pictures do it justice lol